Rtjfus dawes



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RUFUS DAWES, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT 0F COLUMBIA.

HAMMER-HEAD.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 21,823, dated October 19, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Burns Dawes, of lllashington, District of Columbia, have invented an Improvement in Hammer-Heads, and that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the principle or character which distinguishes it from all other things before known and of the usual manner of making, modifying, and using the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing.

My invention consists in giving to the face of a hammer head such an inclination to the longitudinal axis of the head that the workman shall be enabled to strike a succession of parallel blows when driving a nail or at other work without raising the whole arm at each blow. To the casual observer it does not appear that much art is required in driving a nail, but in the several trades where the hammer is of frequent use the art of holding the hammer is among the regular instructions to the apprentice. An inexperienced hand will with a common hammer almost invariably tip a nail when he attempts to drive it. This is owing to the fact that in the natural way of using the hammer the face of the hammer head strikes Vthe nail head at an angle and the nail is apt to slip off and become broken or bent. This effect is in a great measure counteracted by making the face of the hammer inclined as shown at A in the drawing. The rule which I have adopted for inclining the face, is as follows. Grasp the handle at B as usual in the act of hammering, let the knuckles or back of the iingers just clear the surface of a table T and give the face such an angle that in this position of the hammer and hand, the face shall be parallel with the surface of the table. This will admit of driving a nail close home with a parallel blow without striking the knuckles upon the table, and an important advantage is gained in the strength of the blow, the difference being that due to the force derived from the natural sweep of the arm and that from a constrained motion according to the rules of instruction above referred to.

What I claim therefore as a new article of manufacture, is 4 A hammer head with its face inclined to the longitudinal axis of the head in the manner herein set forth.

RUFUS DAWES.

Witnesses CHAs. G. PAGE, WM. H. HARRISON. 

